Free Antsy Floats by Neal Shusterman Page A

think about, but I wasn’t there to eat. When no one was looking, I filled a few plastic bags with food. I had a sack of garlic shrimp, beef broccoli, and an entire breast of turkey with all the trimmings.
    I’d like to say that sneaking into Bernie and Lulu’s cabin and climbing into Tilde’s lifeboat was dangerous, but it wasn’t. Bernie and Lulu apparently spent all their waking hours either in the casino or at the buffet, so they weren’t in their cabin when I used the passkey to break in. And climbing from their balcony to the lifeboat, well, the way the ship was designed, even if I slipped in between the two-foot gap, I’d only fall onto someone’s balcony one deck below.
    Tilde was in the lifeboat, as I suspected she would be.
    â€œHey,” I said, “I brought you some food.”
    When I showed her what was in my backpack, she laughed. “You didn’t have to do that. It’s not like I’m going to starve without you.”
    I shrugged. “If you got caught taking this food, you’d get arrested or beheaded or whatever they do to stowaways. If I get caught, they’d give me silverware to take with me.”
    But then, when I took in the bigger picture, I saw that she had canned food stockpiled in the lifeboat. Much more than she even needed. Still, she ate what I brought her.
    â€œSo what’s your deal?” I finally asked her. “If I’m helping you, then the least you could do is tell me why I should.”
    â€œYou tell me,” she said, “because it sounds like you have me all figured out.”
    This, I knew, was a setup. It’s like the old question, “Do I look fat in this?” The answer, in any conceivable situation, is always “no.” Basically, she was sitting me down in a minefield and seeing if I could get through it without death or hospitalization.
    â€œYou’re smart,” I told her, which I think was true, and it was a good place to start. “Not just smart, but street smart. You know how to make things happen and how to get what you need.”
    â€œSigue,” she said. “Continue.”
    â€œYou don’t have much. Maybe you got nothing at all. Poorer than dirt. Somehow you saw an opportunity to get on this ship and took it. I’d probably do the same.”
    â€œDirt isn’t poor,” she said. “It must be rich to grow anything.” Then the ship hit a swell, and the lifeboat rocked like a Ferris wheel car. “Don’t worry. It’s safe,” she said.
    â€œI wasn’t worried.”
    â€œContinue.”
    â€œOkay, so you’ve got this whole thing wired: how to stay out of sight while in plain sight. I know about that on account of I had this friend who could stay hidden without even trying. He could probably walk right onto this ship and no one would even notice. But you’re not like that. You have to work hard at not being seen. But like I said, you’re smart. You’ve got it wired.”
    â€œAnything else?”
    â€œOh yeah. The money. You’re probably giving it to your family, which is back wherever you come from. Or maybe you’re saving it to bribe whatever crewman finally catches you.”
    â€œAnd you think that’s clever?”
    â€œVery.” And then I added, “You figure the worst that can happen to you is you’re put off the ship. You’re too young to go to jail for something like this, and the cruise line doesn’t want that kind of publicity, so they’d keep it quiet, and you’d get sent back home. For you, it’s a good deal no matter how you look at it.”
    Then she smiled and moved closer to me.
    â€œSo now it’s your turn. What’s your ‘deal’?”
    I shrugged. “I’m just a guy from Brooklyn.”
    â€œIn a sky suite?”
    â€œYeah, well, I have a rich friend.”
    â€œThe old man with the cane?”
    â€œBingo.”